Wicked Game
by pastel daisies
Summary: She teeters on the edge of hating him and loving him. He plays a wicked game on her heart, and there's nothing she can do to stop him; at least not as his captive. SasuSaku. /Post Land of Iron Arc./


**A/N: **_OKAY. So. I started this a while ago because I really liked the idea of having Sakura change how she acts towards Sasuke because of how he treated her, but having her still love him in the very back of her heart. This is within the canon(ish) bounds of Masashi Kishimoto's work, BUT I have changed a few pieces of information to fit the time and plot:_

_**i.** Tobi/Obito does NOT personlly involve himself with Sasuke after Danzo's death, and only acts as a spy for the Akatsuki._

_**ii.** Sasuke feels as if his fight is no longer with the Leaf village at that point, especially with the war brewing between the villages and the Akatsuki. He does not plan to attack the Kage Summit._

_**iii.** Because of complications, it takes the Akatsuki a little over another year to be ready to create the Ten Tails (hence the time skip)._

_**iv.** After Sasuke attempted to kill Sakura in the Land of Iron Arc, she focuses on training more, and submitting herself only to getting stronger and /**trying**/ to overcome/repress her feelings for Sasuke._

_**v.** She and Naruto STILL want to bring him home, but he is the least of their worries._

_**vi.** After Karin was injured, and Sakura healed her, she did NOT get taken by the team, and instead, snuck away to rejoin Sasuke and his team._

_Anyways, yeah, sorry it's a lot, but for this specific story, I decided to take a little turn from Kishimoto's plot :3 _

_Also yes, Sakura does still love Sasuke, but at the moment, she is in conflict with herself over it, and tells herself that she hates him, after all, he did try to kill her, even if he was a little insane and not in his right mind. Plus, I just love the idea of her being a Jonin, strong kunoichi, but still a medic! I know that medical ninja's aren't supposed to fight on the front lines because if they die, who will heal the others? But still, the idea of Sakura advancing her fighting skills to advance like Tsunade did is one of my headcanons. _

_The title for this piece and lyrics were taken off of Chris Isaac's song 'Wicked Game'. Sorry for the long intro, thank you if you read this! I won't be updating this for a while, just thought I'd introduce it and see what you all think before I continue. I'll be slowly adding chapters, since I go back to college really soon. Please enjoy!_

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**WICKED GAME**

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_What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way.  
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.  
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way.  
_

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_x_

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_No, I don't want to fall in love with you  
/This world is only gonna break your heart/_

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"Che, what a shitty day."

Sakura squinted towards the heavens, her hands intertwined over her head, as if to makeshift a cover for her hair. Rain poured down her pink locks, slathering small clumps of hair to her forehead and cheeks. Why had she even agreed to his mission anyways? She sighed loudly and propelled herself up onto the nearest tree branch. She lowered her hands from above her head and rubbed her soaked glove covered palms onto her thighs.

She was on what had been a grueling two day mission (not including the multiple other days it took to get there and back) filled with complete and utter espionage crap (what she liked to describe as it to Ino). She had donned a whole new persona, pulled on a blonde wig and wriggled into a skin tight mini dress that even Ino with her loose(_ish_) standards would not have approved of. Kirigakure was a village she had grown to dislike over the months of medical and other missions there. Too many gangster wannabe's inhabited the city, and even worse, and contray to popular belief, it not only rained all day, but hailed like a bitch.

But Sakura was a woman of her word. When she had sworn her oath of alleigence to Konaha as part of her very recent succession to Jonin, she meant it. Anything that threatened the Hidden Leaf Village, her home, was part of her list of enemies. But, she had to admit, spy missions were a fun way out of her usual medical missions to the other villages. And this time, going by herself for once, gave her time to think and enjoy her own company. She still despised the idea of dressing up as a hooker to obtain information, though.

Alas, here she was. Returning from the nth mission dealing with the Akatsuki. God, anything would be better than these missions, Sakura thought, even if it dealt with that Uchiha bastard. Even after countless years of being without the traitor, Sakura still had to take in a breath. She had changed, honestly. It only took her, oh maybe two years to stop herself from crying all of the time, along with countless training sessions with the other high ranked Jonin of the village. Now, if anyone had the balls to even mention Sasuike, she could stomach it effortlessly. However, that did not mean that she still wanted to rip out every piece of him she had stored in herself, her memory, and end it. How she truly wanted that bond severed now.

The village hadn't really given much thought to Uchiha Sasuke since the news of Danzo's death. Of course, Naruto and Sakura had been adament about rescuing him, but after a while, the Akatsuki consumed their worries with it's threats to the villages, and even Naruto began to stray towards keeping himself safe from the organization. Sakura knew, though, that Sasuke was still on his mind.

And so, every high ranked ninja in Konaha was out almost every week on a mission regarding the Akatsuki. Hell, even Kakashi was sent out to the Land of the Waves a few times.

Sakura took in another sigh, looking around her at the gloomy atmosphere of the treetops. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she reached into her back pouch, withdrawing a small, wooden box. She opened it slowly and pulled out a riceball, placing it in her mouth, while she closed the box and replaced it in her pouch. She sat on the uncomfortable wood branch, and ate her snack slowly, savoring the flavor. With all the reasons to not visit Kirigakure, she could think of a reason to visit said village: for some damn good riceballs. The cafes in the center of the village were practically the best joints in the world.

When she had finished her food, and brushed off any crumbs from her lap, she closed her eyes and wiped a hand across her forehead to pull away any tangled hairs. She was still damp, but she'd survive. In her head, she went over all of the bullshit she had remembered for the mission from being undercover as the "dancer" (aka bar stripper) in Kirigakure. It was blah blah blah Kisame blah blah something about the Land of the Waves blah blah blah total world annhilation. Sakura snorted. The usual.

When she opened her eyes about ten minutes later, she noticed the rain had let up, but it was still cloudy. The wind brought a faint smell of the water, quite pleasant, in her opinion. However, when the wind let up, she felt something strange.

A chakra signature.

She frowned, and closed her eyes, concentrating on her other senses. Thanks to Yamato's quite boring lectures and lessons, Sakura had learned a thing or two about how to pick up on the signature's of other ninjas by their chakra. She was no expert but she got along okay.

Three more signatures appeared in her three mile radius. She scowled, and opened her eyes. Felt like just some ninjas. Well one did. The other signatures felt a little abnormal. Very powerful.

She rolled over onto her stomach, laying flat against the tree branch, as she felt the strangers getting closer. She waited quietly, and patiently, until they were within less than a mile from her. And then there was a voice.

It was muffled by the small wind that had picked up, but Sakura could make out the words quite clearly.

"There's someone ten o'clock to us, less than a mile ahead. Up in a tree." It was a feminine sounding voice, a tad nasily, but very prideful. Lord, that woman was speaking loud. Did she want to give away her location? Sakura smirked, her eyes still closed, as she pressed her ear and cheek to the damp, cool surface of the branch, as if to listen closer.

In the distance, she could hear a slight hint of a voice, but opposed to the loud woman, the voices were almost inaudible. Just rustles in the wind. Sakura lifted her head and sighed, opening her eyes, her emerald orbs scanning the trees around her. The voices had been coming from ahead of her, she was sure. She layed her chin against the branch and watched, waiting, like a cat ready to pounce on it's pray.

She was lucky that she was a naturally patient ninja, or else the next ten minutes would have driven her absolutely mad. But, finally, she could hear loud rustling from in front of her, and branches snapping, as feet stepped on them. Then, there was another voice, clearly male, and even more clearly agitated.

"Damnit, Karin, could you be any friggin' louder, I don't think Kirigakure heard you clear enough from miles away."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. _Karin_, she thought. Now where had she heard such a name-

"Shut up, Suigetsu! Can't you see Sasuke-kun is trying to concentrate?"

Sakura's eyes widened, and her lips parted. Oh fuck me, it's _him_. She growled, and maintained her feline-like stance on the tree branch, her eyes watching, waiting for the emergence of the avenger boy and his team.

Wasn't it called Hebi, or some shit? Or maybe Hawk? Haystack? Hamish? She couldn't remember the name Naruto had told her about, nor did she really care. Her main concern now was to sneak away from the group. If Sasuke saw it was her, he'd try to kill her again.

Tch, if he could. He hadn't seen her since his last attempt at killing her. She had been weak then, eager to just join him, to be loved with him and to be with him. Well now, he had another thing coming. She wasn't weak anymore.

Perhaps she could transform her looks? She did still have her little stripper get up in her backpack. But with that Karin girl with him, Sasuke could figure it out quick enough that she was no ordinary woman, but a ninja.

_Damnit. Perhaps I could just face it head on. Give him the whole "I'm sorry, I'm not here to attack you, let me go blah blah blah"._

Sakura shrugged to herself. Perhaps. Or she could just get herself found out and deal with it later. She was tired, and she wanted to go home to her lovely, warm bed in Konoha. She was lazy, so it sounded like a plan. She continued lying on her stomach, waiting for the team to emerge where she could see them.

Finally, a lanky redhead emerged into the small clearing a few hundred feet from Sakura's hiding place. The girl had on glasses that hid her eyes, reflecting the light. Sakura couldn't help but feel like she had encountered her before. But at that moment, she just couldn't place where. The sun had broken through the rainclouds, and shon down through the trees in small doses.

Karin, Sakura still tried to think of where she had seen her, placed a hand on her hip and looked around, motioning at the trees. A taller man emerged second, with white hair, and baby blue tips. On his back, Sakura noticed instantly was a bigass (what? she loved to oveemphasize) sword that looked all too familiar too, Zabuza's sword was about the size of her. She was only about 5'4 give or take. The man came to stand next to Karin, and folded his arms. Sakura knew by the scowl on his face that this must be Suigetsu. Next to him, a stocky, slightly taller man appeared, jumping down from a tree. He had a calm face, and flaming orange hair, sticking out in all directions. Finally, avenger boy himself appeared, swiftly and silently sticking a landing from a tree nearby.

Uchiha Sasuke, presently a few months short of his nineteenth birthday was a sight that could put any angel into a coma. From his perfectly sculpted face, to his duckass styled raven locks, and his tall, domineering stature, Sasuke was the quintessence of every girl's teenage fantasies. Kami, and the opened shirt revealing chisled muscles and sculpted abs was not helping. Even Sakura could not stop staring at him. She finally pulled her eyes away, rolling them.

"Oh!" She whisepered, suddenly remembering where she had seen Karin before. She was the woman that Sasuke had ordered to kill when they met last. Sakura swallowed heavily, pushing back the horrid memory, and instead trained her eyes on Karin. She seemed to be faring, even with the little healing Sakura had done to help her chest wound.

_From Sasuke's chidori_, she remembered Karin saying. Sakura swallowed once more.

"Karin." Sasuke ordered. His voice was rough, masculine, and probably made Karin turn into a crazy fangirl, Sakura guessed. And guessed correctly. Karin blushed deeply, and held a finger to her glasses, pushing them up the bridge of her nose. She inhaled.

"The signature is coming from over in that tree. Up on the branch." She pointed into said direction, and then turned to Sasuke , giggling. She expected a thank you, no doubt. But stoic Sasuke barely even batted an eyelash, let alone made a sound to acknowledge or thank her. Suigetsu, from his place between Karin and the other guy, unfolded his arms, and sighed deeply, reaching behind him for the hilt of his sword.

"Shall I-"

"No." Sasuke cut him off, just as Suigetsu's fingers touched his sword. He huffed, and removed his hand, crossing his arms once more. Sasuke's obsidian eyes scanned the tree line where Sakura was posed, his lips a grim line. His hand slowly moved to cover his hip, his fingers brushing the holster of his katana. Sakura squinted, her mind already knowing what was about to happen. Slowly, she dragged her legs and back up, into a pouncing position. Her eyes had barely seen Sasuke grasp his katana, before the branch was falling under her, collapsing loudly to the ground. Luckily, she had stealthily moved to a higher up branch right before the branch had dismembered itself from the tree.

Sasuke swiftly took his place on the ground once more, ignoring Karin's googly eyes, and her fangirling nature. Suigetsu made a small noise from behind her, that sounded like a chuckle at Sasuke's quickness.

However, Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he watched the empty tree branch hit the ground in front of them. Karin was quick to react defensively.

"Sasuke-kun I swear the person was right there in the tree-" She took a step towards Sasuke, her hand inching out to touch his arm, to show she was sorry, but she was cut off by the small click of heels on the branch, now dismembered on the forest floor. It snapped under the sudden weight, but didn't break. Karin turned away from Sasuke towards the person perched on the fallen branch.

The woman looked about her age, maybe a year older or so, Sasuke's age perhaps. Her eyes were bright green, lacking emotion, but not without observance. Worst of all, Karin thought, her hair. It was so.. _pink_.

_Like a stick of bubblegum,_ Karin thought almost disgustedly, as she realized that Sasuke's eyes never left the woman's face. A hint of a smirk had found it's way onto his handsome features. Does Sasuke know her? Karin pondered jealously. She looked around towards her two other teammates, both of which were also staring at the woman. _Oh, she isn't that pretty_, Karin thought prudishly.

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice cut thorough the silence like a blade, his smirk slowly fading. Sakura shrugged lightly.

"Sasuke?" She countered, and stood up straight from her feline crouch. She pulled her arms out behind her in a stretch and then remained in her calm position. She watched the man in front of her. His hands were at his side, inches from his katana, but not close enough that she figured he would use it. He saw her naught as a threat this time. How dastardly of him.

"Leave." He turned away from her slowly, his eyes catching none of his teammates, ignoring their confused glances, their unspoken questions. Karin seemed to be the only one happy at his movement, as she huffed happily, crossed her arms, and follwed Sasuke's suit, turning away from the pink haired woman.

Sakura, on the other hand, was quite insulted.

"Really, Sasuke? Last time I was in your prescence, you were very quick to attempt to kill me." She commented, ignoring the cold facts, she knew he would bring up, right about-

"Last time, Sakura, you were very quick to fling yourself at me and profess your love for me to beg me to take you with me."

Now.

Sakura's eyes narrowed in counterance.

"Two years can change a person." She said lightly, and took a small leap off the branch she had been standing on. She opened her mouth once more, to announce her departure from this limited, ridiculous back-and-forth she and Sasuke had started, but was cut off by yet another one of Sasuke's orders.

"Suigetsu, take care of her. We're leaving." He turned his back fully away from her, and began walking towards the bushes, the way he had come. The other man and Karin followed behind him, leaving Suigetsu, the weird sword man, standing to face Sakura. He slowly withdrew his sword from behind him and aimed the tip at her.

"Such a shame. You're damn pretty." He said bemusedly, and shrugged. Sakura growled. She turned away from Suigetsu and towards where Sasuke and the others were leaving, and placed her hands on her hips.

"I'm insulted, Sasuke, I would have thought you'd like to sever this bond for yourself, not let your pet take me out instead. I mean, I am just a weak, narrow minded creature, ne?"

Sakura's words cut through the small gust of wind circling the trees, and shockingly, made Sasuke stop in mid-step. He fixed his stance, his back still to Sakura, and was dead still. Karin stopped behind Sasuke, and looked at his back, almost worried. What was this..., she searched for the right word to insult the woman, this pink slut doing to her Sasuke-kun?

"Perhaps this one time, Sakura, I _wil_l actually pay attention to you." He said coldly, and turned to her, and disappeared in a small shuffle of air. It didn't take but a millisecond for Sakura to pinpoint and turn to face Sasuke as he flew at her from behind, his katana drawn, and aimed to slice right through her throat. Instead, as he got closer, he landed a kick to her ribcage, attempting to weaken her. Sakura bounced back and spat a small amount of blood. She ignored Suigetsu and instead focused on the man in front of her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and Suigetsu slowly retreated from the clearing to join Karin and the other guy, his sword once more being put back on his back. However, he seemed happy at what he was seeing. Sasuke drove his katana at her, surely aiming to end the fight before it began, but this time Sakura had other plans. She stood up straight, facing the man she had once loved so childishly, and braced herself.

"Think this will be a quick fight there, Juugo?" Suigetsu ask Juugo from behind her, nudging the other man, who just nodded calmly, eager to watch what was happening.

Sakura caught the sharpened blade between her gloved palms, hearing the fabric eagerly rip. She grimaced, feeling a bit of blood drawn, but managed to catapult herself into the air above his sword, and her knee turned, aimed to deliver. He disapeared once more, just as her knee bone was millimeters from his cheekbone. She recovered from the kick and pounced onto the nearest tree, looking around, searching for his chakra signature. She didn't need to search for long, because he was once more in front of her, and the blade of his sword was dug into the trunk of the tree next to her forehead, some of her hair caught in the blade. She heaved her lower body up and kicked her legs out, aiming for his gut, but he moved to the side. With a slightly painful yank of her hair, she pulled away from the tree, as did he, and then she heard it.

The birds.

_Oh hell, here he goes with the Chidori again._

It ripped through his blade in a dance of white light and lightning, and Sakura knew she had only seconds to react. She crouched and swung her leg out, as if to trip him, and as soon as he dodged her genin-level kick (which was a trick of course, she scoffed to herself) and re-positioned himself, she moved around him, her eyes now on his back. Her hands were already forming the familiar hand signs, the slight cuts on her palms rubbing together achingly. He spun around to face her and flew at her, his lightning katana raised, ready to slice her in two, no doubt, but her fist came out towards his sword, covered in a light green cloud of chakra.

Later, she would realize that punching his bloody Chidori katana might have been a stupid idea, as it just made him madder, but at that moment, she had made up her mind that she hated those damned bird noises, and that damned move, and damned Uchiha Sasuke aiming his bloody sword at her. The collision of the Chidori and her chakra infused clenched punch threw the two of them back, but months in training (Collisions 101 she called it now) with Naruto and Kakashi taught her how to brace a hit such as this. She dug her heels into the ground, as she steadied herself, recovering a few feet back in a cat-like squat. Sasuke himself stood agile across the clearing, his katana in his hand. He was not breathing heavily, nor did he look at all tired. But Sakura had expected this, and even though she had started to gasp a little for breath, she was ready to put up a bit more of a fight. Sasuke, however, was ready to end this now. His death glare bore burns into the back of her head, and it sent a small shiver up her spine.

Before she could blink he was in front of her, his left hand clasped tightly around her throat, his right hand lining the katana up against the line of his thumb to her neck. She now noticed that he had made no effort to activate his Sharingan. While his grip on her next tightened, his hand moved the katana down to her heart, the tip pressing against the fabric of her top. For a moment, she thought he was going to activate his Mangekyo Sharingan, but then she came to his senses, and realized he would never use such a powerful kill shot on her. She was too weak, he could take her out with less. He assumed.

The Sakura he had his hand on now was gone in a puff of smoke. A clone. Sasuke, now dangerously agitated, stood up and turned around, searching for the real target.

Sakura exhaled in mid air. She mentally kicked the shit out of herself to for giving herself so much time to disapear. Why did she hesitate? And even more curiously, why did Sasuke? The minute he had his hand around her throat, he could have plunged that sword into her heart. But he took his time, why?

She wasn't given time to answer her own question, because a ray of Chidori came at her from behind, slicing open the bottom side of her shirt. She lunged to the side, and fell into a tuck and roll on the ground, gracefully.

"Fuck." She growled. He had cut some of the skin, maybe a bit of muscle, along with the shirt. She grimaced, placing a bit of chakra onto the wound, temporarily and loosely closing up some of the bleeding that had began to flow. She turned towards Sasuke, who was just standing still, watching her. His Chidori ray receded back into his palm, and he lifted his katana back up.

The fight had gone on for fifteen long minutes, both fighters still at their peak. Sakura was indeed ready to block everything Sasuke threw at her, but Sasuke was ready rid himself of the annoying woman. He refused to do it with his Sharingan. It was a waste of power. However, it irked him how she was now _actually_ fighting back. And how she could leave small scratches on him from her counter blows. Eventually, Sasuke had returned to his standing pose, his katana still out and facing the ground. Sakura was crouched on the ground, breathing slightly heavily. She was as irritated as he. Honestly, he should just do his worst and be done with it. He needed to stop playing around.

"What the fuck are you waiting for then, Sasuke? You keep hesitating. Stop using petty attacks. End this right here, right now. One blast from that Mangekyo of yours and I'm gone." She took a deep breath, and waited for the final blow. She knew that tormenting such a cold man would have no effect, but it was worth a try. She intended to dodge his attack, of course. Or to face it head on. But it never came. Instead, Sasuke looked at her almost boredly. He replaced his katana in it's holder, as if a sudden change had come over him. He turned towards his gaping teammates.

"Juugo. Bind her wrists." He began walking towards the teammates, and Juugo, the orange haired man, snapped out of his shocked look and nodded. He ran at Sakura, and in an instant was holding her arms behind her back. Yet Sakura did not react to this, her eyes and attention was focused on the man who was now walking away from her.

"_What?!_" She roared, her body growing hotter as her rage filled her every bone. She was caught up in the moment, and the heat of the fight. "Why not just kill me, Sasuke? You're just going to walk away? You fucking _coward_!" She screamed at him, maintaining her spot on the ground, Continuing to ignore Juugo's grip on her wrists. To be honest, she hadn't even heard what Sasuke said to the man. She was fueled by his lack of continuation. Dammit, if she said she wanted to be killed right there and then, she would!

Sasuke let out a small, but very dark chuckle. "Sakura." He cut off her raging, but did not stop walking away from her.

"You're going to be a prisoner. It seems now that you're worth more alive than dead."

Just as he was ready to turn to her to make sure Juugo was doing his job of securing her, a petite hand gripped the back of his shirt. Juugo, eyes wide, looked towards the pinkette that had unconsciously used her monstrous strength to get away from him. Sasuke's expression did not change. At first, to be honest, he thought it was Karin, but the massive strength that brought him to swing around and face angry, cold, emerald orbs made him realize it was Sakura. At that point, something in her had snapped. Everything she had held in for two years, everything she had promised to rip from herself came up in a flurry of blurred vision and heated blood.

"I would rather die ten times over by your hand than be your prisoner!" She seethed, her face up almost against his, their noses close to touching. _How dare he_? After all the times Sasuke had shown that she meant entirely nothing to him, he restrained from killing her? From breaking the bond she needed most to be broken to cleanse herself? From his side, Sasuke heard Karin take in a breath. Before he could even make a cold, jeering comment back to her, she was yanked away from him, and in the circle of Juugo's arms, as he restrained her once more. Her hair flew into her face, and in her dangerous rage, she did look deadly.

"Let me go, you bastard!" She screamed at the man holding her, her arms pulling out, her legs kicking. This man was strong. Even if she used every ounce of her strength on him, she wouldn't be able to get free again. Obviously, Juugo had learned his lesson from just now. This was dissapointing. If she was in her usual mood and not pissed to no end at Sasuke right now, she would have made a remark.

"Kill me, Sasuke! Don't hold back! I'm nothing to you, remember, you asshole!" As she was throwing her words like knives at the Uchiha, Juugo had slipped metal cuffs around her arms, and her hands went limp. However, she ignored this, and continued her rampage at Sasuke.

"What, as soon as I stand up to you, as soon as I don't worship the ground that you fucking walk on, you won't kill me! End this! I'm _nothing_!" She roared, her hair tangling in her headband, and lips as she continued screaming. For the first time in about two years, she felt salty tears fall onto her cheeks. Sasuke only huffed and continued walking away from her. Karin and Suigetsu continued to follow him, as Juugo bent down, his hands shackling the same material around Sakura's ankles. She ignored the strange limp feeling, and even as she fell to her knees in the dirt in front of Juugo, did she continue throwing her words at Sasuke.

"You're nothing, Sasuke! You're dead to me! To us! I'm not your fangirl anymore! " She was finally done screaming, and it took all of her strength to not pass out at that moment, just as Juugo hoisted her over his left shoulder and began following behind the other Team Hebi members. Sakura was silent as she teetered on the edge of consciousness.

"How long until we reach the next hideout, Karin?"

"At most, five days."

Sakura then decided that, being prisoner on the back of some stranger, while captured by the boy she had loved and now hated, was a excellent time to finally loose consciousness.

.

.

.

When she woke up once more, it was getting dark, and her wrists were sore, as were her ankles from the treatment of the chakra bindings around her limbs. Her shoulders ached, and the rocking of her body by being carried made her almost nauseous. Slowly her eyes cracked open, and she caught the sight of a pale material of cloak. She groaned, realizing she was hoisted stomach first over Juugo's shoulder.

"Pinky's awake." Suigetsu's humored voice lulled through her ears, and she frowned, licking her lips.

"Bastard." She muttered weakly, and she heard him chuckle in response.

All of the fight seemed to have left her body from before she passed out hours earlier, leaving her in a state of between consciousness and limpness. She had given up trying to reason through anger with Sasuke. But that didn't mean she planned on going back to treating him like he belonged in Konaha. Not like this. She clenched and rolled her fingers, wincing at the slow jab of pain that came from the movements.

_Damn these ropes_, she cursed inwardly, and swallowed once more, licking her chapped lips.

She lifted her head higher, seeing Suigetsu lagging behind Juugo, probably to make sure that she didn't try anything. He looked a bit tired, and he shot her a grin, wrapping his fingers around the belt of his sword holster.

"How you doin', girly?" She scowled at him and looked away towards the slow moving trees around her. They were walking quite slow, and she could hear Karin's heels clicking lightly behind her, that was at the front of the pack. She assumed Sasuke was also leading them.

Which was good.

If he had been in her line of vision right now, she was sure that she would have thrashed violently against Juugo to attack him.

"Karin." Sasuke's grunt filled Sakura's ears, and she scowled deeper, biting her lower lip.

"The quickest path is straight down this way. We shouldn't encounter anyone, Sasuke-kun." Karin's use of the suffix made Sakura want to flinch. And not just because the girl reminded her of Sakura's younger, fan-girlish self.

The group was silent, and Sakura took her time to analyze the passing surroundings. Judging by the direction of where they were headed when she ran into them, this hideout Karin mentioned was out past Kirigakure. Great, the exact opposite way of Konoha.

Sakura's eyes widened.

At the mere thought of her home village, all breath left her lips. Shit. They would come looking for her once they saw that she hadn't returned to the village. There would be ANBU after her trial, and Tsunade would be frantic. And right when there was tension between the villages and the Akatsuki too.

She had to leave a trail behind.

Hopefully, the ANBU would catch her scent at the sight where she and Sasuke fought, but from there? She couldn't move her wrists, or be stealthy enough to loose some hair or DNA to start a trail. A small sigh left her lips, and Juugo's large hand supporting her back tensed.

"Can I have some water?" She asked allowed to no one in particular, even though she knew Suigetsu would probably be the one to answer. Karin huffed in front of her, and Sakura's eye twitched.

"Sasuke?" Suigetsu's voice chimed through the silence, as if to ask permission to-

"Hn." He took that as a yes, and pulled out a bottle from his belt, offering the straw to her lips as they walked. Sakura accepted the liquid greedily, sipping it until her stomach felt like it would burst. Suigetsu yanked the bottle away with a grin, and replaced it to his belt.

"Damn, pinky, leave some for the rest of us." She shot him a glare, and licked her now wet lips. Her mind slowly began to run over all of the possibilities of how exactly she would get out of this situation. She stretched her wrists against the rope, testing their flexibility, along with her ankles. She felt Juugo's suspicious glance to her head, and ignored it.

The ropes were tight, and she couldn't even maneuver a finger between her skin and the harsh material.

"We'll camp here for the night." Sasuke said in a monotone, and Sakura lifted her head. The sun had set, leaving the tree lines in a haze of low light. They stopped in a small clearing surrounded by bushes and trees. Immediately, Suigetsu sighed, muttering something about getting some firewood, and Juugo set Sakura down gently against a rock. She wriggled around, trying to get comfortable, and pulled her knees to her chest. It would be hard to sleep in this position.

But then again, she didn't plan to let her guard down for much sleep anyways.

Out of the corner of her eyes, which were fixated on the material of her pale pink skirt, she could see Sasuke standing in the middle of the circle, hands on his hips. Juugo was crouched down next to Sakura, and was busy playing with a patch of wildflowers next to him. Karin was stood next to Sasuke, hint of a blush on her cheeks, pressing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

Sakura bit back a deep chuckle.

"So what's the plan, Sasuke?" He frowned, turning towards her as she spoke. Sakura took his silence as an insistence that she elaborate. She kept her eyes on her knees, as she continued.

"You're just going to keep me hostage while you go about with your team and do whatever you do? What use am I going to be, huh? Just let me go. Or kill me. It's pointless for me to be your prisoner."

To her surprise, Sasuke chuckled. Her knuckles clenched, wishing her monstrous strength could rip apart these ropes and punch him right in his pretty little face.

"Sakura", he addressed her cooly, taking a step towards her direction, before faltering. She could feel his eyes on her lowered head. "You're a medical ninja, you'll be healing us when Karin cannot. In addition, you're a Leaf ninja, and will be used as such to bribe Konoha, if the situation presents itself."

Sakura gritted her teeth. "Like hell I'll heal you." She spat, and snapped her head up, eyes meeting his with a livid glare. His lips pulled up in a smirk.

"You will." He promised, and she let out a hiss of breath.

Suigetsu appeared next to Sasuke, arms holding a group of twigs and branches. He dumped them onto the ground next to Karin and brushed off his arms with a sigh. With a flick of his fingers, Sasuke started a fire, and perched himself on a rock across the fire from Sakura and Juugo. He folded his arms over his knees, and Sakura felt his eyes grace over her head, before going back to Juugo, and then the sky.

Sakura was beginning to hate the silence, and with nothing else to do, thanks to being bound, began to hum a small tune under her breath. She looked up, feeling three sets of eyes on her face in partial shock, and arched her brow. She continued until the tune was done, before lulling back into silence. Suigetsu, always the talker of the group, it seemed, spoke up once more. He sat on the other side of Sakura, crossing his legs and pulled out his water bottle.

"So your name's Sakura, huh?" He shot her a mischievous look, and Sakura rolled her eyes. When she didn't respond, Suigetsu sipped his drink with a grin, and shrugged to himself.

Sakura listened as twig snapped, and snuck a look as Karin slowly inched over to Sasuke, sitting on the rock next to him. She shot him a smile, as he looked at her in blank question.

"What is it?" He asked in a bland nature, and Sakura snorted lightly. Karin took off her glasses slowly and looked him in the eye, batting her lashes. She leaned towards him, arm bumping his chest, and he leaned away.

"I don't have a blanket, Sasuke-kun, and it's getting cold.." She trailed off.

"It's hot as balls." Sakura scoffed, earning a quickly shot glare from the redheaded girl. She scowled and replaced her glasses on her nose, and crossed her arms. Sasuke didn't move, but Sakura would tell by his straightened posture that he wasn't comfortable with how close Karin was.

And his slight sneer wasn't exactly inviting either.

"Stop hanging over Sasuke, Karin and get some sleep." Suigetsu closed his eyes, and Karin growled, standing up promptly and storming over to Suigetsu, preparing to yell at him. Sasuke recrossed his arms over his chest, and Sakura watched as Karin and Suigetsu bickered, before Karin gave up, and sat on the ground next to Sasuke with a huff.

Sakura had been right, it was hot as balls. Outside of Kirigakure, the summers hit pretty hard, and the humidity clung to Sakura's neck as she tried to get comfortable on her side enough to relax a little. She grunted, moving her arms, twisting her shoulders.

"Fuck these ropes." She muttered, and looked around. Juugo was asleep on his side next to her, and she could make out Suigetsu's splayed out form across from her, as well as Karin's crouched sleeping pose. Sasuke was the only one awake, still sat on the rock, his eyes everywhere but Sakura.

She was suddenly beginning to miss her bed and free use of her limbs.

_Naruto_, she thought, licking her lips,_ please hurry up and realize that I'm gone and come save me from this._

The mere thought of her very dear, best friend, sent her reeling. What would he think if he knew Sasuke held her captive? Would he still try to reason with him? Sakura bit her lip. She had tried, and failed, to bring Sasuke back, but Naruto was still trying. She highly doubted trying to talk to him about coming home would work. For now, she would just have to keep on her guard and watch his every move until she could make a trail for the others to find her from.

Realizing that Sasuke's eyes fell on her form, she quickly closed her eyes, deciding to get a light amount of sleep in out of sheer exhaustion.

.

.

.

Her eyes cracked open slowly, and she swallowed back a bitter taste in her mouth. The sun was slowly rising, and Juugo stirred next to her. She winced at the numbness of her limbs and sat up, shaking out her hair.

She must have one hell of a bedhead right now.

Sasuke was already moving around, and Karin and Suigetsu began to sit up, both yawning. Sakura let out a yelp in pain, as she tried to move her arm, searing pains shooting up her shoulder. Sasuke turned to her, his narrowing.

"Can you at least rebind my hands to my front, please? _Fuck_, this is painful."

Juugo shot Sasuke a look, who turned away with a grunt. Slowly, his fingers worked the ropes free, and Sakura stretched her arms, letting out another noise of pain. But as quickly as her arms were free, Juugo was pulling her wrists once more in front of her, binding her back. She sighed and looked away. At least the numbness and pain was slowly going away. Thought she couldn't say the same for her legs.

"Let's go." Sasuke said, and immediately, Sakura was hoisted back over Juugo's shoulder, and they began walking once more. Only an hour into walking, Sakura felt a pang hit her lower stomach, and she bit her lip.

"Uhm, Juugo?" She murmured, craning her head to the side to meet the man's eyes as he turned to her in silent question.

"I have to pee." She said meekly. Juugo blinked, and turned back towards Sasuke in front of them.

"Sasuke." He said gently. Sasuke turned his head, not intent on stopping.

"What is it?" He asked in a bored tone.

"She needs to use the bathroom." Sasuke stopped, and put his hand on his hip. Slowly, Juugo set Sakura on her shaking legs, and then looked at her bindings slowly. Sakura rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"I'm not going to run, you have to unbind me for a few moments. Please?"

"Juugo." Sasuke grunted, and Juugo nodded, bending down to untie the ropes around her ankles. Sakura sighed in relief, watching as Sasuke turned his upper body towards her, eyes meeting hers menacingly.

"Run and I'll kill you." He said. Sakura fought back a grin.

"Sounds good." She agreed, and he turned back away.

"Please make it quick." Juugo said, as he pulled the ropes from her wrists. He gestured towards the bushes next to them, and Sakura nodded, stretching her aching muscles.

It was definitely awkward using the bathroom behind a bush only a few feet from a couple of guys, a girl, and your lifetime love. Well, ex-love, Sakura thought confidently, as she readjusted her shorts, and straightened up her shirt. She stepped back next to Juugo, holding her arms out to be rebound with a small grin. Sasuke eyed her, before turning back again. Karin huffed.

"We're only a few days walk from the hideout." She said, pushing her glasses back up her nose, and Juugo bent down to rebind Sakura's legs. Once more, she was over his shoulder, and she writhed, getting herself comfortable. Her eyes fell on Suigetsu's face, and he shot her a grin as he walked behind Juugo.

"That's Momochi Zabuza's sword, isn't it?" She asked curiously, gesturing with her bound hands to the sword strapped to his back. Suigetsu nodded and put his hands on his hips, confidently.

"Yep. I was a swordsman in training of his. Guess you could say I earned it." He said happily, and Sakura shrugged.

"Haven't seen that since we fought Zabuza six years ago, right Sasuke?" She threw his name over her shoulder, and she heard him grunt boredly. She couldn't help but laugh as she shrugged.

Maybe being Sasuke's prisoner wouldn't be as bad as she anticipated. It was a big fat perhaps.

After another day of constant walking, and being bound up, Sasuke finally decided (thanks to Sakura's persistence) to unbind her legs and let her walk on her own. She walked in front of Juugo, and soon enough, found herself coming to study everything she could about the group. Karin was a chakra tracker, she knew that much from their encounter. Suigetsu must be a water type, and was from the Land of the Waves, since he knew Zabuza. Juugo? Not much, only that he was calm, and really loved to look at the bird as they walked.

And she already knew all about Sasuke.

She watched his back as they walked, her eyes trained on the clan symbol on the back of his grey shirt. She couldn't help but wonder just what he had been through. Ever since they had run into him at the Land of Iron, and he was pretty much insane, he seemed calmer. Less blood thirty and murderous. Which was a shocker.

And what was the truth about the Uchiha clan massacre? She had heard Naruto mention it, but didn't exactly know what it was.

No matter how much she suppressed her feelings, locked them away, she couldn't help feel a little pang in her chest as she looked at his back. She bit her lip and rubbed her cheeks with her bound hands. Hearing his name had no effect on her, but standing only feet from his real body, after all that he had done, it certainly hit her.

She wasn't still supposed to love him! Of course, she still wanted to save him from the darkness (though her ambitions were thoroughly drained), but she first had to make herself stronger. And yet, after everything he had put her through, all of the growing up she had done; here she was, questioning if she really had gotten over Uchiha Sasuke. She had honed her body to become stronger, and willed herself to not think of him over the two years it had been since the Land of Iron incident. Training with Yamato and Sai, as well as some with Neji had taught her that emotions definitely did not belong near a fight, especially if she wanted to get stronger. Becoming a Jonin was her way of accepting herself as both a highly skilled medical ninja, but also anything _but _a burden to her other teammates, especially Naruto. She wanted to advance her hand to hand combat and fighting skills. Still, she couldn't help but angrily shoo away thoughts of Sasuke every once in a while. Why did her heart still flutter when his eyes met hers? She swallowed, and closed her eyes.

Sasuke stopped, making Sakura almost run head on into his back, but she caught herself before she could. She heard running water close by, and realized they were just outside a waterfall and fresh river. Sasuke steered from the path, and began walking towards it, eyes looking around, as if to find something. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"The cave is to the right, Sasuke-kun", Karin spoke up, "I remember it from our last trip."

He led them towards the cave's opening, and stopped. Sakura strode past him and into the cave, peering into the darkness. She sighed.

"How nice." She muttered, and Karin followed her in, Suigetsu in tow.

Sasuke turned away and disappeared from the cave entrance. Juugo followed his suit and turned to Suigetsu.

"We should bathe, Suigetsu."

Said man sighed, and hoisted himself towards the man's direction.

"Yeah yeah." He muttered.

Sakura sat herself down on the cool ground, and shot Karin a glance. Karin looked back at her in question, and Sakura shrugged.

"Guess we have to wait?" She asked, and Karin folded her arms, averting her eyes.

"Obviously." She said. Sakura raised an eyebrow, and looked towards the cave entrance.

"Why are you still following him, Karin? I mean, he stabbed you, and almost had me kill you." She murmured, and trained her gaze back towards the redhead. Karin huffed.

"It's not your business." She said snarkily, and Sakura sighed.

"How is your wound?" She looked back at Karin, who's hand moved to the spot on her chest, before her hand dropped back into her lap.

"Fine." She snapped. Sakura's lip twitched. Guess that was what she got for attempting to befriend someone who she had previously saved. No less from Sasuke's attack.

In her head, she planned out a strategy to get a bit closer to the teammates. Feigning absentmindedness, she rubbed her back against the cave wall. That, she figured, would be enough to leave her scent for at least Akamaru's nose, when she would be tracked.

She played with the ends of her hair, considering tugging out a few in addition, but Karin's gaze on her, made her drop her arms. She couldn't be suspected of leaving a trail this early. She smiled at Karin gently, who turned back around and refolded her arms. Together, in silence, they waited for the boys to get back so they too could bathe.

.

.

.

"What the _hell_ do you mean Sakura hasn't returned yet?"

Tsunade's fist slammed down onto the desk, papers and her tea cup toppling off of the surface onto the ground. TonTon shrieked, running away from the mess, and Shizune jumped, letting out a large yelp at the sudden noise.

Genma was shaking in his shoes, as he slowly raised the clipboard to his eyes, and looked down at the sheet.

"L-Lady Hokage, she was supposed to return from her mission three days ago from Kirigakure, but she has yet to show up at the main gates, and no one has seen her come back yet-"

"And why am I just now hearing about this?" Tsunade shrieked, standing up. Her chair rolled back and slammed against the wall, and Shizune shrieked once more, taking a step back. Genma clutched the clipboard in his hands tighter.

"We've been focused on the ANBU's tracking of the Akatsuki layer that we haven't-"

"You idiots!" Tsunade screamed, and lunged a scroll past Genma, hitting the wall. Genma froze, eyes wide. His lips flapped open, and Shizune ran over to pick up the scroll, waiting axiously for another object to be thrown. When nothing came, and Genma was still frozen, she looked up, finding Tsunade back in her chair. She was clutching her head, looking very worried.

"Genma!" She said, and said man snapped out of his unmoving position, looking at her.

"Y-Yes, Lady Hokage!" He said.

"Go and get Hatake Kakashi and tell him to round up Yamato, Inuzuka Kiba and Sai. Tell them to be prepared to leave within the hour for Kirigakure. And for Kami's sake, do_ not_ under _any _circumstances, let Naruto hear of this!"

With a sputter of agreement, Genma fled from Tsunade's office. Tsunade gripped the edges of her desk, and Shizune winced at the cracking sounds of the wood being broken.

"Do you think it's the Akatsuki?" She whispered, and bent down to pick up the items that had tumbled from the desk in Tsunade's rage. The older woman sighed out of sheer exhaustion.

"My god, I hope not. I knew it was too early for Sakura to be going on these types of missions by herself. It was too early for her to become a Jonin."

"There isn't a Jonin or Chunin in the village that isn't stretched thin already with the Akatsuki preparing to attack. And plus, Sakura is a strong kunoichi, she was ready, and she's surpassed you, m'lady. She can handle herself."

Even with Shizune's true words of comfort, Tsunade couldn't help but still worry. Sakura was like a daughter to her, and one of the two people Tsunade trusted the most in Konoha. Shizune, the other, was currently cleaning up the mess with shaking fingers.

"They'll find her." She murmured, and Tsunade nodded in hopeful agreement.

* * *

x

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_It's a work in progress, I need to rewatch and reread the Shippuden chapters/episodes to keep my facts up to date, so my updates will be slow. But I do like the idea of this story, and hope you do too. Thanks so much for reading! & Hope you stay tuned! ^^_


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